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'Our Part in the World's Struggle." 



A SEEMON 



PREACHED IN THE 



CENTRE CHURCH, NEW BRITAIN, 



AT A UKIO:^ SERVICE, 



ISrOATKlMBER Q4, 1Q64. 



By LAYALETTE PERRIN 

PASTOR OF THE FIRST CHURCH IN N^WT BRiTAitS.^- 




HARTFORD: 
PRESS OF CASE, LOCKWOOI> & COMPlNY, 

1864. 



' Our Part in the World's Struggle,' 



A SEEMON 



PREACHED IN THE 



CENTRE CHURCH, NEW BRITAIN, 



AT A Ul^IOIvr SERYICE, 



NOVJGMBER 34, 1864. 



By LAYALETTE PERRIN, 

PASTOR OF THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEW BRITAIN. 




HARTFORD: 

PRESS OF CASE, LOCKWOOD & COMPANY 

1864. 



corrkst'oistdenc'e:, 



To liev. L. Perhin, 

Dear Sir : — Having heard your Tlianksgiving sermon, we arc of the opinion 
that it contains important principles and truths so clearly set forth, and withal so 
adapted to the exigencies of the times, that a more extended diffusion of its sen- 
timents would be a public bcnelit. We therefore respectfully ask you for a copy 
for publication. 
New Britain, 28th November, 1864. 

ALFRED ANDREWS, 

T. W. STANLEY, 

WM. H. SMITH, 

F. T. STANLEY, 

WALTER GLADDEN, 

N. W. STANLEY, 

SAMUEL ROCKWELL, 

HENRY STANLEY, 



H. B. BUCKHAM, 
OLIVER STANLEY, 
F. H. NORTH, 
W. A. CHURCHILL, 
CHARLES NORTIIENl), 
A. P. COLLINS, 
C. B. ERWIN, 
LEVI S. WELLS. 



New Britain, Dec. 1, 1864. 
Messrs. A. Andrews, T. W. Stanley and others, 

Gentlemen : — Your complimentary note of the 28th ult. I have just received, 
and thank you for the kind words it contains. In deference to your opinion and 
wish so courteously expressed, I will comply with your request as soon as I can 
consistently with other duties. 

Respectfully yours, 

LAVALETTE perrin. 



SERMON. 



Psalm 100: 1—5. Make a jojful noise unto the Lord all ye lands. Serve 
the Lord with gladness ; come before his presence with singing. Know ye that 
the Lord he is God : it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves ; we are his 
people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and 
into his courts with praise ; be thankful unto him and bless his name. For the 
Lord is good ; his mercy is everlasting ; and his truth endureth to all generations. 

This Psalm is the ptean of a rejoicing people. It was 
composed and recorded for the service of public praise, 
and was doubtless first used on that sublime occasion of 
national joy and festivity, wlien the Ark of the Covenant, as 
the hallowed symbol of God's prersence and favor was put in 
its place in the Temple of Solomon, with the shouts of an 
assembled nation. 

The circumstances of that occasion were peculiar, and 
have never been repeated in the history of the world, but 
its spirit should enliven every season of joy among men, and 
quicken every expression of gratitude for blessings received, 
whether personal, social or national. The Psalm may be 
taken, therefore, as the key-note of this glad anniversary of 
ours, on which this nation is called by its Chief Magistrate to 
unite in a great anthem of Thanksgiving. 

To us as a people, through the concurrent invitation of 
the President and the Governor, the voice of God is address- 
ing this language — " Know ye that the Lord he is God : we 
are his people : Enter into his gates with thanksgiving ; for 
the Lord is good." May God help us to catch the very spirit 
of these words at the threshold of our festival, and breathe 
it heavenward with such heart-emphasis as to carry it, redo- 
lent as myrrh and frankincense, into his presence-chamber 
on high. 



() 

Thanksgiving that is such truly — praise that reaches 
Heaven — comes from the heart. If we would truly thank 
and praise God then, we inxist feel what is expressed in this 
one hundredth Psalm. We must have our sensibilities kin- 
dled to a joyous and grateful glow by the belief that Jehovah 
is God — that we are his care — and that He is good. Have 
we good reason thus to believe — thus to feel ? Let us see. 

Tiiere are many reasons why we should thus believe and 
feel, not peculiar to the present time, but fitted to move us, 
if duly considered, at all times. The common blessings of 
providence and grace furnish such reasons. We might con- 
centrate our thoughts upon a New England home, and make 
this with its countless comforts and enjoyments a special 
reason for feeling that the Lord is our God, and is very good. 
We might contrast our spiritual condition as a community 
with the condition of African, Asiatic, or even European 
communities, and draw from the contrast weighty reasons 
for gratitude and praise to Jehovah as our God, and very 
good. Or any one of many other common themes might be 
selected, and profitably studied, as furnishing reasons why 
we should enter these courts to-day with thanksgiving and 
the song of praise. 

But a theme is suggested by the occasion itself, as a 
national Thanksgiving day, and the stirring events which 
have led to its appointment. 

Our part as a Nation in the world's struggle for re- 
demption. 

Let us give our thoughts to this subject, and see if we 
ought not, in view of what God is accomplishing by us, to 
rejoice in him as God — as our God — and as very good. 

That we may catch a personal inspiration and quickening 
from this study, let us here at the outset link ourselves as 
real agents with passing events. What the theory of our 
government assumes as true, is in fact true of each one of us. 
We, tlie people, are the power — the government — the sove- 
reignty. If there is privilege in this, there is also obliga- 
tion, responsibility. Each one here to-day is a constituent. 



responsible element of that nationality — that civil sove- 
reignty — which is, under God, solving a great problem for 
the world. Whether man or woman, tlien, forget yourself 
for the time as a separate personality, and think of yourself 
as embodied in, and a part of, this national life of ours, which 
God is using to determine a world's coniiict. Count all 
personal and individual interests as related by positive influ- 
ence to that power which we call our nation, and let it be 
fully admitted here and now, that business, party, family, 
religion, everything which enters into your personal history, 
is an element of strength or of weakness in the nation's life ; 
so that what is good, pure, noble, life-inspiring, in the char- 
acter of the nation, comes from y/ow., to the extent of your 
personal influence in that direction : and what is bad, vile, 
corrupting or destructive, comes from you, so far as you 
personally, in your private or social life, your business, your 
politics, or your religion, encourage that which is evil in 
kind or in tendency. Thus, whether you will it or not, you 
are linked to this nation's work and destiny, and can not 
shun a measure of responsibility for its glory or its shame. 
The nation's life is your life — the nation's work is your 
work — its glory is your glory, and its shame your shame. 
We, the people, are the power, and God is using us as such, 
in the world's bloody and prolonged struggle for redemption 
from the grasp and curse of oppression. Let us every one 
feel, then, that each sin of the nation is our sin — that 
each success of the nation is our success ; and what God is 
doing for and by this nation, he is doing through us. Let 
this thought kindle in us a lofty purpose, as we do or suflFer 
in the nation's struggle. 

"Liberty" was the watchword of those who laid the 
foundations of this nation. Not license, lawlessness, plun- 
der or spoliation ; but liberty based upon justice and piety — 
Christian liberty, as the birthright of manhood — the fountain 
of social happiness. Permission to do right, not permission 
to do as one pleases, was the liberty they sought, found, 
loved and proclaimed. How to secure both liberty and good 
order in human society, has been the great problem, upon 



which nations have worked for thousands of years. Into 
the sohition of this problem the history of our nation has 
entered, and is to-day a leading quantity. To find its exact 
relations has been a work of time, involving serial and abrupt 
steps of progress, not always intelligible, and often wearing 
a decidedly perplexing aspect. But the dark epochs and 
bitter experiences of the nations in past history, have come 
from a misapprehension of true liberty — an attempt to set 
up or to vindicate something else in its place. 

"j4// men are created equal, and by God^s appointment have 
a right to life, to liberty, and to the pursuit of happiness*^ 
This principle was that pearl of great price for which those 
spiritual merchantmen of old England, the Puritans, came 
hither searching — this was that hidden treasure, at the dis- 
covery of which, they quickly sold all they had in the old 
world, and came and bought this field. 

I need not dwell now upon the origin and growth of our 
nation. The leading facts have been made as familiar to 
you as household words. I need not rehearse here the his- 
tory of our early struggles in developing and finally estab- 
lishing a government upon the basis of universal liberty. 
You all are, or ought to be, familiar with that history ; and 
no one who is so, can fail to see abundant reason for thanks- 
giving to-day and every day, that God carried our fathers 
through such self-denials and suiferings, such dark and 
stormy times, and enabled them in the face of manifold diffi- 
culties to frame and set in working order a government 
whose spirit and aim are set forth in the declaration " all 
men are created equal and entitled to liberty." But if we 
omit here a special notice of their struggles, we must not 
fail to recognize the hand of God in calling our fathers to 
tiieir work. The exodus of Israel from Egypt and their set- 
tlement and growth in the land of Canaan for the special 
purpose of preserving and disseminating the knowledge of 
the true God, are no more obviously God's purposed work, 
than the exodus of our Pilgrim fathers from the old world 
and their settlement and enlargement here, as conservators 
of Christian freedom in its true and best sense. And he who 



will, can see God's hand in our early history as clearly as in 
the history of the Hebrew commonwealth. 

It will help to kindle the inspiration we need to-day, and 
bring us into living sympathy with those who have struggled 
before us in the same great cause, if the choir Avill sing just 
here, that spirited song — "Rock of Liberty" — which carries 
us back to scenes in which the Pilgrims wrought for us, in 
the nation's appointed work. 

1. "0 the firm old Rock ! the wave-worn rock, 
That braved the blast and the billow's shock ; 
It was born with Time on a barren shore, 
And it laughed with scorn at the ocean's roar ; 
'T was here that first that Pilgrim band, 
Came weary up to the foaming strand, 
And the tree they reared in the days gone by — 
It lives — it lives — it lives — it lives— and ne'er shall die ! 

2. Thou stern old Rock ! in the ages past 

Thy brow was bleached by the warring blast ; 
But thy wintry toil with the wave is o'er, 
And the billows beat thy base no more ; 
Yet countless as thy sands, old Rock, 
Are the hardy sons of the Pilgrim stock — 
And the tree &c., &c. 

3. Then rest, old Rock ! on the sea-beat shore ; 
Thy sires are lulled by the breaker's roar ; 
'T was here that first their hymns were heard 
O'er the startled cry of the ocean bird : 

'T was here they lived — 't was here they died — 
Their forms repose on the green hill's side ; 
But the tree &c., &c." 

Yes, the tree they reared yet lives ; and for this we ought 
this day to thank God. 

It is claimed by some that our fathers said more than they 
meant, in the public declaration — " all men are created 
equal, and invested with the rights of liberty." But if this 
was more than they meant, it is clearly only what God in- 
tended they should announce to the nations as the truth He 
was about to sift, and settle, and make the germ of our 
nationality. It may be that as God's high-priests in that 
age, they spake, not of themselves. If so, then it was proph- 
ecy, and must have its fulfillment. 



10 

"/I// vieu. (ire rrealed c(]val^ and by God's appointment are 
entitled to life^ liberty and the pursuit of happiness.'''' "What 
is this but saying that " God is no respecter of persons, but 
hath made of one blood all nations of men ? " Yet this was 
said nearly eighteen centuries ago, and is among the first 
teachings of Christianity. 

But we must not without protest admit the claims of those 
who by special pleading make out that Hancock, and Adams, 
and Sherman, and Franklin, and Jefferson, and Morris, and 
all that peerless company of " Signers of the Declaration," 
did not understand the language which they used. It may 
be true that some of them did not at the time fully consider 
all its meaning in special applications that might afterwards 
be made. But all did at the time, doubtless, fully compre- 
hend the principle announced, and see and feel, that tlic 
nobler instincts and the unbiased reason of man, as well as 
the word of God, recognize it as a truth. And many of 
these very men did afterwards boldly and nobly make that 
special application of this truth, which has been from the 
first, the chief, if not the only, source of real danger to our 
national existence. No doubt they understood what they 
said, and announced the great principle of human equality 
and liberty as what they believed and purposed to adopt and 
maintain. 

Here then is the truth, the principle, the divinely sanc- 
tioned germ of our nationality, which God dropt into the 
heart of this nation to be developed, applied, vindicated, 
disseminated, until all the nations should see it, feel it, 
accept and incorporate it into their forms of government, 
and so empower it to carry true Christian liberty to every 
dweller upon the earth. This, distinctively, is our mission. 
For this God brought us into being as a nation. This is our 
part in the world's struggle ; this the work God has assigned 
us to do. 

We have accomplished this mission in part. First, we 
have org-anized the principle in question, and given it a visi- 
ble, vital form, in our civil government. This government, 
framed by our fathers, is doubtless in some respects imper- 



11 

feet, as every thing human must needs Ix', Its Asoikinir ims 
been attended with friction at times — and there will be fric- 
tion in our world as long as there is sin in it — but as compared 
with other human governments, we may say assuredly that 
ours gives more of the blessings of liberty to the people as 
a whole — that it accords more in its working with the decla- 
ration of human equality upon which it is based — than any 
other government on earth. In theory, and in all ordinary 
practice, it gives to all citizens the largest measure of liberty 
compatible with their real good. Local exceptions, state or 
municipal rather than national in their bearing, sadly mar, 
it is true, the beauty of our record. But these, like the 
spots on the sun, are specially apparent when internal convul- 
sions are throwing out with special brilliance the light which 
they make glorious by contrast. We see special reason for 
thanksgiving to God, therefore, in the fact that our national 
government was organized, and has been worked, in the 
main, according to the principle that all men are by nature 
free and equal. 

We have accomplished our mission in part, secondly, by 
diffusing this principle in its vital energy, so tliat there is 
probably not a civilized nation on the globe, whose govern- 
ment is not in a measure liberalized by our influence. For 
the last fourscore years this embodied principle of human 
liberty and equality as seen in our history, has worked like 
leaven in the musty lump of despotism that curses the old 
world, and millions in Europe, in Asia, and even in Africa, 
have had their burdens lightened by us without knowing 
their benefactors. The silent influence of this example 
which our nation has set in the direction of liberty, both 
civil and religious, has crept into the most bigoted and 
oppressive governments of Europe, and is destined, if we 
continue a nation, to stir to its profoundest depths that dead 
sea of bigotry and organized oppression, which covers in 
intellectual and moral stupor, the masses of a whole conti- 
nent. The love of liberty has been kindled there, and its 
demands have been met already by concessions which the 
safety and the very existence of thrones and dynasties 
required. 



12 

Not only by the contact of governments with each other, 
but also, and more perhaps, by the commingling of peoples, 
has our influence been sent abroad. During a single month, 
nearly thirty thousand immigrants have been welcomed to 
our shores, representing England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, 
Holland, Sweden, Belgium, Poland, Russia, Austria, Italy, 
Turkey, Spain, besides some of the nations of Asia and some 
of the islands of the sea. These immigrants catch the spirit 
of liberty, and send it back in their words of salutation to 
the friends they left behind. A recent estimate places the 
number of these foreign-born residents in our land, as high as 
four millions. And with these millions of once crushed and 
oppressed people breathing the atmosphere and sharing in 
the blessings of freedom and equality here among us, and 
daily sending back their free thoughts to the firesides of 
kindred groaning under the pressure of French, Austrian, 
Russian or Turkish rule, how can it be otherwise than that 
this spirit of liberty should be diffused by us all through old 
Europe ? And what wonder if her despots and aristocrats 
rejoice in our misfortunes ? What wonder if their "Flori- 
das" and "Alabamas " and "Tallahasses" easily slip through 
the meshes of a neutrality whose zeal for belligerent rights 
is stimulated by such palpable self-interest ? Despotism car- 
ries in its very nature the element of fear. Aristocracy is 
but intensified selfishness. And are not these social tele- 
grams, running over mystic wires from our midst into the 
despotisms of the old world and kindling in every province a 
desire for liberty, like the foxes and the firebrands of Samson 
in the corn-fields of the Philistines ? And is not God's hand 
clearly seen in the wonderful diffusiveness which has in this 
and other ways characterized the great principles upon 
which our government is founded ? No sooner were we 
firmly established as a power among the nations, having 
" liberty and equality " as our banner-motto, than God 
opened before us thus marvelously the channels of positive 
inlluence abroad, and gave us a special mission to fill the 
world with the priceless blessings we ourselves had received. 
This is our part as a nation in the world's struggle for 
redemption. 



18 

We were fulfilling this high mission with a measure of 
success that made tyrants everywhere tremhlc. But success 
has in it an element of danger. Charmed by the sound of 
that word, upon which in our prosperity we had rung every 
conceivable change in holiday orations and songs, we lost 
sight little by little of its seme. In our prosperity, and by 
it, we were blinded to the fact, that enemies were plotting 
and working to rob the word liberty of its meaning, while 
they kept us beguiled by the frequent repetition of its sound. 
Charmed by the reiteration of the word itself, we were crim- 
inally remiss in guarding its sense and vindicating its claims. 
In this our remissness the enemies of liberty found their 
opportunity ; and all our national troubles are upon us 
to-day as the penalty of this remissness. If we review the 
matter candidly, and observe how near we came to a national 
repudiation of that which is the distinctive glory of this 
nation, we shall see special cause for thanksgiving to God, 
in the fact that we are to-day defending rather than surren- 
dering that pearl of great price — that discovered treasure, 
purchased by our fathers. 

We have not yet as a nation repudiated that which is our 
distinctive glory. State and municipal laws have indeed 
trampled it under foot with a measure of impunity. Under 
the plea that our fathers did not understand the language of 
their great " declaration " as we now interpret it, a prolonged 
effort has been made to secure a national repudiation of this 
vital principle. The effort has been as wily as it has been 
persistent. The steps of its progress are clearly marked in 
our history. And the service to which God is calling us 
now as a nation, is the defence of that great principle which 
we have embodied in our national government, and which as 
a nation we have diffused so widely in the world, against the 
final, fierce assault of its enemies. 

I have said this service has been rendered necessary by our 
past remissness. Not that we have been wholly ignorant of 
danger ; but that we have been timid, and hesitating, and 
reluctant in meeting boldly the real issue. We have sup- 
posed that a compromise was possible, hy which the friends 



14 

and the enemies of liberty could be tenants in common of 
the same domain. We have coveted the profits of a guilty 
co-partnership. For the sake of these, we have parted with 
our consistency. In his letter to Timothy, Paul says that 
" the love of money is the root of all evil ; which, while some 
coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced 
themselves through with many sorrows." God has permitted 
us to exemplify this language of the apostle, in a most signal 
manner. 

The enemies of liberty have from the first sought to make 
the glorious mission to which God has called us a failure. 
Jealousy and selfish rivalry have indeed kept the monarchies 
of Europe from any combined effort against us in open con- 
flict. But there has been no lack of combination in secret 
conclave. These enemies have had an understanding with 
each other these many years, and have planned, and pur- 
posed, and watched for an opportunity to execute their 
nefarious purposes. As evidence of this, take the following 
language uttered by the Duke of Richmond, while Governor 
of the Canadas, and but a little before his death. " So long 
as the government of the United States exists no European 
prince will be safe on his throne, and the sovereigns of 
Europe are aware of it, and they have determined upon its 
destruction, and have come to an understanding on this 
subject, and have decided on the means to accomplish it, 
and they will eventually succeed, by subversion rather than 
conquest. All the low and surplus and disaffected popula- 
tion of Europe will be carried into that country, and the 
European governments will favor that course. This will 
create a majority of low population. These men will become 
citizens, and be invested with the right of suffrage. Differ- 
ent grades of society will be created by the elevation of a 
few, and by degrading the many. To make them agree in 
political affairs will be like mixing oil and water. Hence 
discord, anarchy, civil war, and some popular individual will 
assume the government and restore order, and the sovereigns 
of Europe will sustain him."* 

*The above language is reported by Mr. H. G. Gates, of Montreal, who was present. 



1;-) 

Did the Duke of Richmond so long ago discern in JclVer- 
son Dans, that " popular individual " whom the sovereigns 
of Europe would favor? Probably not — yet where are the 
real sympathies of the English, French, Austrian and Span- 
ish governments in this struggle of ours ? Besides, compare 
the records of our elections during the last quarter of a cen- 
tury — compare the riotous proceedings which have attended 
upon these elections in some places, with this prophetic lan- 
guage of one as thoroughly posted in the politics of Europe 
during his day as any man then living, and what is your 
inference ? Can it be less than this ? — liberty here has 
enemies, and is fearfully imperiled by their machinations. 

Or listen to the learned Schlegel, lecturing in Vienna, 
under the special patronage of Metternich, who was the very 
incarnation of hatred to liberty. " Send your refuse popu- 
lation to the United States under the control of the Jesuits. 
They will keep the foreign population separate and distinct 
from the American. They will prevent amalgamation, and 
a distinct political organization may be formed. Their bal- 
lot-boxes are left open. You are invited to take possession 
of them. Do this and the work is done."* 

In the light of this language used by Richmond and 
Schlegel, read the issues of the " Freeman's Journal," or 
the "Metropolitan Record" of New York. Or hear the 
sensible Archbishop Fercell of Ohio, in his protest against 
this opposition to the government by " certain rash, irrev- 
erent, and thoughtless men of our communion," say : — " Did 
they not reflect, that its downfall would be hailed with accla- 
mation by our hereditary oppressors across the ocean ? " 
And if the downfall of this government would thus be hailed 
with acclamation by the ruling powers of the old world, is it 
strange that this rebellion is their pet ? 

Now put side by side with these statements and facts that 
significant occurrence of late, when, amid the most horrible 
scenes of pillage, and murder, and arson in the first city of 
the nation, where all the fiends of that hell, the depraved 
heart, were for a time let loose, the Governor of the Empire 



* Lecture 18th of the course, as quoted by Mr. Levin. 



16 

state, called to his aid a gouty Archbishop to soothe and 
mollify the dear, excited people, and say — what does this 
mean, if not that liberty here is to be defended, or it will be 
lost ? What does this mean, if not that we have among us 
forces that are shaped and controlled abroad ? Yes, the 
great principle for which we are to-day contending — for 
which we are pouring out profusely from our wealth of 
treasure and of noble blood, has leagued against it all the 
ruling powers of the old world, as well as the ambitious 
demagogues and haughty aristocrats of the new. By steal- 
thy steps, for half a century or more, these enemies of liberty 
have been marshaling their forces for combined action when- 
ever the way should be opened. And the way has now been 
opened. By our remissness — by our timidity — by our covet- 
ousness — by our criminal disregard of that first principle in 
the great declaration which our fathers made the foundation 
of this government, the way has been opened. A review of 
the case makes this too obvious. 

American Slavery, in its essential nature, its actual work- 
ings, and its positive affinities has always been opposed to 
this principle of liberty ; and at length, like the viper nour- 
ished to life in the bosom of its protector, lifted its hissing 
head and struck its fangs into the very flesh that warmed it. 
The proof of this is on every side of us, and crowds the brief 
records of our national progress. 

The system of slavery was first tolerated by this govern- 
ment, (not without earnest protest) as an existing evil, to be 
removed as soon as possible. Proof of this may be found in 
the debates of tlic " convention " which framed our consti- 
tution. In that body, George Mason of Virginia, grand- 
father of the rebel emissary to Europe, said : " Slavery dis- 
courages the arts and manufactures. The poor despise labor 
when performed by slaves. They produce the most per- 
nicious effect on manners. Every master of slaves is born a 
petty tyrant."* The major part of the delegates were of 
like sentiment, and the final adjustment was made with the 
understanding, that if left to itself, the evil would gradually 
disappear. 

♦Madison's Papers, Vol. 3d, pape 1390. 



17 

Next came the claim that slavery is a slate institution, 
having a place and rights as such, but in no proper sense 
national in its character or claims. Tliis was a step in 
advance. It was taken cautiously, but firmly, and Avithout 
much opposition. 

This point gained for the institution, it was immediately, 
by dint of menace, pushed into the attitude of a claimant 
with rights to unoccupied territory, and its voice became so 
imperious, that the adjustment of compromise was appealed 
to, under the magic leadership of Kentucky's great orator. 
And when compromises had served tlieir end in nourishing 
the greedy parasite, they were buried with their great Apos- 
tle, and their obligations utterly repudiated. 

Then came the era of constitutional recognition and right, 
with the immortal Webster as its peerless champion, and the 
monetary, commercial, manufacturing, and aristocratic influ- 
ences of the nation linked to his logic ; and all these tre- 
mendous forces guided by the great law of expediency. 
And when the constitution had served its purpose by the 
most glaring perversions, sanctioned in part, though Avith 
reluctance, by its accredited expounder,^ it was defiantly 
trampled into the dust that fell upon his coffin. 

There was but one more point to be carried by its enemies, 
and liberty here would lie pulseless, shrouded and coffined 
for its burial. 

In the Temple at Jerusalem there was an apartment called 
the "holy of holies." Into that, no profane feet might ever 
enter. The High Priest only — and he after the most careful 
lustrations — might enter once in the year for himself and 
the people. 

Our fathers put a "holy of holies" in this temple of 
Liberty which they reared. Never, until the High Priest 
of this temple should open this inner shrine, to the pro- 
fane tread of prejudice, partizanship, or bribery, could 
liberty perish. To the assault of this sacred shrine, there- 
fore, the enemy directed all his hellish arts. Nor was the 
movement vigorously resisted. Oh ! " tell it not in Gath — 
publish it not in the streets of Askelon ; lest the daughters 



18 

of the Pliilistines rejoice — lest the daughters of the uncir- 
cumcised triumph ! " The High Priest that year stood in the 
door of the temple to meet and to greet the intruders. At 
their bidding, he said respecting that declaration of our 
fathers which we have seen to be the germ of our nation- 
ality : " The men who framed this declaration knew that 
it would not in any part of the civilized world be supposed 
to embrace the negro race."* 

Thus was the case seemingly carried against liberty — 
against that very declaration of liberty which was laid as the 
foundation of this government. The " Ark of the Covenant" 
of liberty had been taken, and was in the hands of the Phil- 
istines. But there was one more appeal possible. The God 
of liberty had been inquired of, and already was there heard 
" the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees." 
Outraged humanity carried the case by appeal to the people. 
The people were at first startled by the honest, distinct avowal 
of one, whose voice was just beginning to get the ear of the 
nation. "I believe this government can not permanently 
endure half slave and half free. It will become all one thing, 
or all the other,"! said the future standard bearer of the 
nation. The people heard, and rose in the majesty of their 
strength to determine which it should be. In the midst of 
the conflict for the recovery of the Ark so nearly lost, the 
High Priest, like Eli of old, has fallen at the gate of the 
Temple — " for he was an old man, and his eyes were dim." 

This appeal to the people, echoed back to the West from 
the heart of the Empire state, in the language of her great 
diplomatist — " the United States must and will, sooner or later, 
become either entirely a slave-holding nation, or entirely a 
free-labor nation" | — roused all the energies of the foe, who 
was glorying in his apparent victory over liberty, and in the 
delirium of his wrath, he raised openly the standard of rebell- 
ion, and sent his emissaries through all this land, and through 
the nations of the old world, that the enemies of liberty in 
all lands might combine to crush out once and forever both 
the name and the thing. 

•Taney, in Dred Scott decision. t Lincoln's speech, June 17, 1858. 

t Seward's speech, October 25, 1858. 



19 

The real question at issue then is tliis — "Is liberty the nat- 
ural right of all men ? " And we to-day are in tlie furnaco 
of conflict, heated to seven fold intensity by the vast combi- 
nations of selfishness that are arrayed against us. With a 
united Soutli, countenanced and encouraged by practical sym- 
pathy in many of the free states, and helped in all possible 
ways by the governing classes in Europe, while all the ele- 
ments of discord promised by the Duke of Richmond and 
the Prince of Jesuitism are at work in our midst; with the 
odds thus fearfully against us, w^e have lifted again the dis- 
honored banner of the nation and have said — " We will 

BEFEND IT." 

It took us one full year to realize that we were actually 
fighting an enemy. It took us another to learn that an army 
without a leader is powerless. A third year was spent in cor- 
recting the blunders of the first two, and in gigantic prepara- 
tions for real work; and now at the end, or near the end of 
the fourth year of our struggle, the Nation, as such, is sum- 
moned before the great Ruler to utter in unison an anthem 
of Thanksgiving for the Divine favor and help thus far. 

First then, let us thank God to-day, for the position we 
occupy among the powers of earth, as defenders of the first 
and most important right of man, which is assailed by tlie 
allied forces of des[)otism. We are indeed struggling to sup- 
press rebellion. This is our specific work. Ours is not war 
in any such sense as properly introduces any where the ques- 
tion of belligerent rights as between nations. We are grap- 
pling with rebellion. But it is rebellion, having the helpful 
sympathy of all persons and powers at home and abroad, 
which hate liberty. This conflict assumes therefore the most 
stupendous proportions, and if we fully succeed in it, we shall 
occupy through coming time an apostolic rank among the free 
nations of the world. If we fully succeed in it, the result 
will as surely shake the foundations of aristocratic and des- 
potic power all over the world, as the pebble's ripple pushes 
itself to the verge of the pool whose waters it disturbs. Let 
us thank God, then, for assigning us such a place and part in 
the world's struggle for redemption. 

Again, let us thank God to-day, for the signal successes 



20 

whiih have crowned the efforts of our government thus far. 
We have had humiliating defeats and disasters. In the begin- 
ning of the struggle, when the government and the people 
were only half in earnest, and guiding their movements by 
the laws of expediency, there was a sad record made, most 
humiliating to our pride. But no sooner had the government 
and the people put themselves measurably right on the record 
respecting that fundamental truth — " all men are created 
equal, and entitled to liberty" — than a terrible incubus was 
removed, and the war-chariot, as God's avenger of wrong, 
began to move with crushing momentum upon the enemy. 
Our record for the entire period since this truth was distinctly 
written on our battle-banner, has been a series of solid, 
brilliant victories, without a serious defeat. And to-day, the 
enemies of liberty here and in Europe, hold their breath with 
fear lest the next act in the awful drama shall bring final and 
utter defeat to this great rebellion. For all this let us thank 
God to-day. And as the notes of victory from the Shenan- 
doah are met by, and mingle with, like notes of victory from 
Missouri, while the magnificent armies of liberty around 
Richmond and Atlanta tighten their hold upon the lungs of 
this writhing monster, let us lift up our hearts with our 
voices, and sing in grand chorus this one hundredth Psalm. 
" Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands — for the 
Lord is good — we are his people." 

Again, let us thank God to-day, for the heroic bearing of 
our soldiers and seamen, who are so nobly daring, doing, 
dying in this glorious cause. The world's history hitherto 
furnishes no such wealth of heroic and self-sacrificing devo- 
tion to a great principle as this struggle is developing. The 
altar of liberty groans beneath the burden of noble victims 
already laid upon it. Husbands, fathers, sons, brothers, the 
truest and noblest ever known, have come forth from every 
pursuit, profession, rank or condition in life, and offered 
themselves for service in vindication of the principle assailed. 
By hundreds of thousands they are to-day cheerfully endur- 
ing all the hardships of the service ; facing boldly the dangers 
of sickness, imprisonment, death, and a captivity often worse 
thaji death, that they may lift again to an undisputed sover- 



21 

eignty over this whole people, in view of the world, that 
starry emblem of liberty received from our fathers. And 
shall we not to-day as we tliink of this wealtli of earnest 
manhood which God beforehand garnered in our nation for 
this very time, thank Him for it? And while we recognize 
the provident care of God in the Christian and patriotic man- 
hood which this stni'jcle has already brought into view, and 
thank and praise Him for it as our visible means of success, 
we will also send assurances to our army and navy in every 
proper way, that we appreciate their struggles and their suc- 
cesses. The victorious generals shall have their meed of 
honor. But, in bestowing this, we will not forget that without 
the patience, the vigor, the daring and the determination of 
the subaltern and the private, we could have no victorious 
generals. To our brave soldiers and seamen, one and all, 
let us give in every possible way the assurance that we 
appreciate their efforts. In contributions and services for 
their spiritual and bodily comfort, let us be more liberal and 
earnest than ever. 

But some of them — alas! how many, have already sealed 
their witness for liberty in this sublime struggle, with their 
blood. Shall they, or their sorrowing kindred be forgotten 
by us in our thanksgiving song to-day ? No, illustrious 
martyrs! if we forget you — if we allow you to be forgotten, 
let our right hands forget their cunning. 

Citizens who love liberty — who would acknowledge your 
obligations to the heroic dead — my eye falls often upon a 
choice, appropriate, beautiful spot, where a monument might 
be placed by this people, every man, woman and child bring- 
ing an offering for the work — a monument which this busy 
population will see as they come and go in their daily 
avocations, and on festive and sacred days — a monument 
upon which shall be inscribed the names of those sons of 
New Britain who have fallen or may yet fall in this struggle — 
and I seem to see fathers and mothers, widows and orphans, 
gathered in groups around that monument, looking through 
tears of grateful affection upon the several names set in glory 
there, while they say to each other in whispers of honorable 
pri(ie — " They are not forgotten by those for ichom they diedy 



22 

1 see the children and youth of coming generations 
gathered around that monument, and by a new arithmetic 
computing the cost of liberty — estimating the value of gov- 
ernment — reckoning the worth of peace. 

I see young men there, feeding in silent thought great and 
noble purposes of life — drinking in the spirit of self-sacrificing 
devotion to great principles — catching the inspiration of 
heroic endeavor, and carried by the genius of the place into 
a holy alliance with the cause for which these heroes died. 

Is this wholly a vision, not having in it the germ of an 
ultimate realization? While we thank God for the men he 
thus provided for our help in the day of need, shall we not 
also perpetuate their example for the quickening and guid- 
ance of future generations? 

Finally we should thank God to-day for that sublimest of 
all our successes in this prolonged struggle, achieved on the 
8th of November, 1864. This was a victory, not of party as 
against party — not of candidate as against candidate, merely, 
for of such a victory this is not the place to speak — but a 
victory of principles over prejudice ; a victory of patriotism 
over partisanship ; a victory of right and justice over cove- 
tousness and selfish ease. Those who understood the nature 
of this terrific struggle — those who knew what home and 
foreign allies this unscrupulous rebellion was in league with — 
those wiio had watched the pulse of that vast popular element 
which the Duke of Richmond said would side with despotism, 
and which the Austrian premier declared to be under Jesuit 
control — those who realized what fearful combinations were 
silently concentrating upon that momentous day, watched its 
approach with unutterable misgivings. There was indeed an 
outward show of cheerfulness and confidence, but deep down 
in the stoutest souls which have stood for liberty hitherto 
through sunshine and cloud, there were forebodings which 
prudence dared not whisper. The case, carried by appeal to 
the highest power known to our government, was to be dis- 
tinctly, finally settled. The people were to render their 
verdict, and under circumstances which gave room and play 
to every warping influence of southern sympathy, foreign 
Jesuitism, and partisan prejudice. Add to this the depression 



23 

of spirit which weighed down the soul of the nation after 
three and a half years of unremitted struggle — the slain 
brought home to almost every hamlet — the desolation of 
households all over the land — the taxes touching every indi- 
vidual — the end promised long before, not yet in sight — and 
who will say there was not great danger that the popular 
heart would sink, and the old, easy method of compromise be 
tried once more? 

Think of the real questions which were submitted to this 
people on that memorable day. With almost every house a 
house of mourning, and almost every heart lacerated and 
bleeding at the remembrance of the slain, the question put to 
this people was — " Will you give more sons, brothers, hus- 
bands, fathers, for the defence of liberty?" With the 
pressure of taxation already so great that not even a match 
or a pin could escape it, the question was — "Will you give 
more money for the defence of liberty?" With the whole 
industrial enterprise of the nation diverted from its wonted 
channels ; with great financial questions baffling the wisdom 
of our wise men, and threatening general disaster in all 
departments of business; the question was — "Will you risk 
yet more in the defence of liberty ? " 

The friends and the enemies of liberty all over the world 
waited in tremulous anxiety to hear what answers the people 
would give to these questions which came right home to every 
hearthstone and every heart. We have heard their answer. 
The despots of the old world have heard their answer, and it 
made thrones tremble, and tyrants turn pale. The rebels 
heard it, and every purpose, and every power of theirs was 
shaken by the sound of it. With all the infernal combina- 
tions of this great rebellion in full view — with the awful 
visage of war right before them, and its crushing burdens 
weighing them down — with secret conspiracies springing to 
light on every hand and threatening universal devastation if 
the struggle was continued— the people, the free, sovereign 
people, after solemn deliberation, came forth and lifted their 
hands to Heaven, and said before God and the nations: 
" Liberty first ; peace next ; ivar if it must be ; disunion never. 
We will give more men; we will give more money; we ivill 



24 

g-ive more heart treasures; ive will give everything for the 
defence and maintainance of that great and sacred principle^ 
placed by our fathers as the chief corner stone in their temple 
of liberty.''^ 

Such -was the verdict of a great people on the 8th of 
November, 1864. Is there a lover of liberty in all the world 
who will not unite with us in thanksgiving to God that such 
a verdict was rendered by this people in the face of such 
frowning prospects ? Shall we not in view of it enter into these 
gates with thanksgiving, and into these courts with praise ? 
Shall we not say to the world which witnessed this sublime 
spectacle, "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands?" 
Shall we not gather new inspiration fi-om this grand uprising 
of the people, and lift aloft with a steadier hand that noble 
old banner — red, in token of the heroic blood that defends 
it — white, in token of the pure principle it symbolizes — blue, 
in token of its heavenly origin — and as we see it floating 
above us, shall we not emphasize afresh our thanksgiving 
anthem to Him in whom we trust, while to the heroic army 
and navy as God's ministers, we send this message, with our 
earnest greetings: 

" Bear on our flag over all the land : 

And unto them who beneath it stand 

Glory forever and high renown — 

Who conquer the foe and trample them down. 

On then, over the field in a torrent pour; 

Through the clashing of swords and the cannon's roar, 

Forward, rank upon rank, till the day is done : 

By valor alone the battle is won. 

Danger shall menace the land in vain. 

Ever united it shall remain ; 

Strong in the faith of a holy right, 

With God for their guide, our patriots fight ; 

All the pleasurers of home tiiey have left behind — 
For the trials of war tliey have all resigned ; 
Let the trumpet sound, and its note shall call 
On men who have vowed to conquer, or fall." 



May God speed the right — Amen. 



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